Issue 7A — the question about increasing the sales tax in select communities to fund an expansion of the Colorado Connector, or CoCo, train — was put on too many ballots in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Weld counties after the Front Range Passenger Rail District did not inform county election clerks about changes to the district’s boundaries.

Election and rail district officials on Wednesday said voters should fill out their entire ballots as they normally would, and clerks will sort out which votes are valid after the election.

“Voters should vote the ballot they were sent,” Colorado Secretary of State’s office spokesperson Jack Todd said in an email.

In a statement, the secretary of state’s office and Colorado County Clerk’s Association said the Colorado Department of State is working on guidance to help counties only count eligible votes in the ballot issue contest.

In a letter to the four county clerks, Brent E. Butzin, the district’s general counsel and the designated election official, apologized for the communication failure.

The district’s boundaries changed in May after the Colorado General Assembly approved a bill to narrow the district’s boundaries to match the passenger train route that is being developed, Butzin said in a letter sent Wednesday.

The problem happened because the district is a “unique creation” under state law and so the new boundaries were not shared “through the usual channels your offices rely on,” he wrote.

“We should have communicated earlier in this process with all the county clerks in the district to ensure you had the information you needed to successfully administer this election,” Butzin said. “We regret the confusion that has followed.”

The rail district is asking the clerks and the Colorado Secretary of State’s office to allow everyone who received an erroneous ballot to vote as they normally would, according to the letter. District officials are proposing that county clerks then use precinct maps to determine which votes for Issue 7A should be counted.

Votes cast on 7A by people who should not have received the question on their ballots should be tossed, while other votes on those ballots will be counted as normal and unaffected by the erroneous question, Butzin wrote in the letter.

“We recognize the inconvenience this will cause each of you, and we genuinely appreciate the extra effort to ensure the intent of FRPRD’s resident electors is accurately reflected in the final tally,” he wrote.

The error sparked calls to invalidate the ballot measure from political activist Jon Caldara, president of the , a libertarian think tank.

“If they can’t get the district boundaries right for their inaugural election, how can they get trains to run on time?” Caldara said in a statement. “Are they going to tax more voters by accident, too?”

Caldara called for the rail district and the secretary of state’s office to deem Issue 7A invalid.

In Arapahoe County, approximately 262,000 Arapahoe County voters received ballots that erroneously included Issue 7A, Clerk Joan Lopez said in a statement.

“The most important thing we want all voters to be assured of is that their vote will be counted in a fair, transparent fashion,” Lopez said. “They do not need to take any steps other than voting their ballot as they normally would.”

Lopez added the county will follow guidance from the Secretary of State’s office “once they describe a path forward.”

Meanwhile, ballots sent to other Arapahoe County voters despite those voters living within the rail district, the clerk’s office said in an update posted online.

Sheri Davis, the Douglas County clerk and recorder, said in an email to The Denver Post that Issue 7A was included on all ballots sent to Douglas County voters for the Nov. 3 general election.

The Douglas County clerk’s office never received an updated map or clarification on boundaries from the rail district, and the only map provided to her office showed all of Douglas County within the rail district, Davis said.

The clerk’s office mailed just over 289,000 ballots. It is unclear how many of those fall within the Front Range Passenger Rail District’s new boundaries and will actually be counted in the election because the clerk’s office has not received an updated map, said Laura Skirde, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County clerk’s office.

Douglas County voters should complete and return their ballots as normal, Davis said, and the clerk’s office will ensure that every valid vote is counted. Davis is consulting with the secretary of state and other counties involved to figure out which votes are valid.

The clerk’s office started hearing from voters on Monday about whether or not they should have been included in the Issue 7A question, Skirde said.

Adams County was also not notified of the changes to the rail district’s boundaries before mailing ballots, county spokesperson Julie Jackson said in a statement.

“Our job is to provide Adams County voters with secure and transparent elections, according to the law, and this issue will not affect that mission,” Jackson said. “It����ap important our voters know they can still complete and return their ballots, and our office will ensure every valid vote is counted.”

Issue 7A is a .333% permanent sales tax increase — 3.3 cents on a $10 purchase, or 33 cents per $100 dollars — for communities along the expanded Colorado Connector route and would add stops in Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Sterling Ranch in Douglas County and Littleton.

The rail district is already set to launch a northern route in 2029, which will run three daily trips between Denver’s Union Station and Fort Collins with stops in Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont and Loveland with funding from the Colorado Department of Transportation and Regional Transportation District. If the measure passes, Front Range Passenger Rail leaders say they will add a fourth daily trip north, along with three daily trips from Denver’s Union Station south to Pueblo.

The Front Range Passenger Rail District was created in 2012, but its boundaries shrank after the General Assembly approved , which was signed by Gov. Jared Polis in May.

The rail district is unique in the state because its boundaries are set by statute and it is not governed under state laws that apply to other taxing districts, Butzin’s letter said. Because of that, the district was not required to file boundary maps like other taxing authorities such as metro districts.

The district supported state lawmakers changing the boundary because it tied district borders to the municipalities that most directly benefit from the proposed passenger rail services.  That should have made it easier for county clerks to administer elections, according to Butzin’s letter.

“In hindsight, as a best practice, we should have informed each of you directly of these changes,” Butzin wrote. “We regret that this was not effectively communicated to each of you.”

Sal Pace, general manager for the rail district, released a statement echoing that the agency should have walked county clerks through the changes.

“Although we weren’t legally obligated to do so, it would have helped avoid the confusion that followed,” Pace said.

District officials have been assured only eligible votes will be counted, Pace said.

Ballots are in the mail and processing begins on Oct. 19.

The festival brings together soccer fans for big-screen and other events to offer a taste of the match-day experience, organizers said. Event registration is now closed, but it will be broadcast on NBC, Peacock and the USA Network.

Commuters should expect road closures, some parking restrictions and limited access to Union Station starting Monday, RTD leaders said in a news release.

The 17th Street and Wynkoop Street entrances to Union Station will be closed during the festival on Oct. 10-11, and customers will be directed to 16th Street for bus and rail service.

Commuters also can access rail platforms and the bus concourse from the 16th Street FreeRide stop at Wazee Street by walking through the breezeway between Bank of America and Lucchese, RTD officials said.

The recently established Front Range Passenger Rail District is already moving ahead with a train, called the Colorado Connector, or CoCo, that will run three daily trips between Denver and Fort Collins starting in 2029. It’ll have stops in Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont and Loveland.

That service will be paid for by a combination of Regional Transportation District and Colorado Department of Transportation funds, fulfilling the long-promised FasTracks northwest line to Boulder and Longmont as part of the northern route, which includes a track-sharing agreement with a freight railroad.

If voters approve Issue 7A, the rail district will use the tax revenue to extend the line south from Denver’s Union Station, and district officials have said they will also add a fourth trip north to Fort Collins.

Voters in communities within the service area will decide the ballot question, and it needs a simple majority to pass.

What would Ballot Issue 7A do if passed?

This measure would add a sales tax throughout the rail district to fund the construction and operation of a daily passenger train between Pueblo and Fort Collins.

It would extend service south of Denver’s Union Station by adding or upgrading stations in Littleton, Sterling Ranch in Douglas County, Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

What would it cost?

Issue 7A is a permanent 0.333% sales tax increase for communities in the rail district, which equals 3.3 cents on a $10 purchase, or 33 cents per $100 dollars.

If passed, it will generate $295 million every year to build, maintain and run the rail line. It will also allow the rail district to take out $580 million in debt to build the line, with a total repayment cost of $785 million.

Who is voting on it and paying the tax?

The tax will only apply to voters in the rail district, which includes Arvada, Boulder, Bow Mar, Broomfield, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado Springs, Columbine Valley, Denver, Edgewater, Englewood, Federal Heights, Fort Collins, Glendale, Greenwood Village, Lafayette, Lakeside, Lakewood, Littleton, Longmont, Louisville, Loveland, Manitou Springs, Mountain View, Pueblo, Sheridan, Starkville, Superior, Trinidad, Westminster, Wheat Ridge and the Sterling Ranch Colorado Metropolitan District Nos. 1‑7.

What do supporters say?

Advocates say the Front Range Passenger Rail will be a reliable alternative to an increasingly congested Interstate 25, both for people who want to avoid traffic and parking headaches and those who cannot or choose not to drive.

District officials say if the measure is approved, the rail line south of Denver will launch within five years with three daily trips from Union Station to Pueblo, along with a fourth daily trip north. The line has capacity for up to 10 daily trips if demand increases.

More people traveling by train will mean less pollution and better air quality, and proponents say the service will be the same as removing 29,000 vehicles from the road while making the Front Range more connected.

Advocates also say the line will have special event stops at the planned Denver Broncos and Summit FC stadiums in Burnham Yard and near Broadway and I-25 to make it easier for fans to get to games.

The rail district has pledged to return some of the revenue to local governments for infrastructure, affordable housing and other transportation projects.

What do opponents say?

Opponents say Issue 7A will cost people money regardless of whether they ride the train and will disproportionately affect lower-income households, which spend a bigger chunk of their paychecks buying items that will be taxed.

Voters are being asked to approve a permanent tax without knowing the final costs, train fares, schedules and other details, critics argue. A starter service with three daily trips between Denver and Fort Collins, set to launch in 2029, can move forward without additional taxpayer funding to see if people actually ride the train before approving a new tax.

Opponents also argue the measure echoes previous transportation tax initiatives that are still partially unfulfilled, such as RTD’s 2004 FasTracks measure.

The Front Range Passenger Rail line will not provide the same door-to-door access and timing flexibility of cars and will duplicate services like buses or shuttles, opponents say. Investing in existing systems like roads, buses and airport access could be a bigger benefit at lower cost.

The funding from the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Clean Transit Enterprise means RTD can make some routes more frequent and restore or expand service on others, state and .

Changes will include more trips on routes along East Evans Avenue, Buckley Road, Alameda Avenue, South Downing Street, University Boulevard, West 38th Avenue, Hampden Avenue, Monaco Parkway, Wadsworth Boulevard and Havana Street.

RTD will also extend service hours for routes along Broadway and Mississippi Avenue and expand or add new service along Sheridan Boulevard; between Central Park and the Anschutz Medical Campus; and along 72nd Avenue and South Kipling Street, officials said.

The agency will also add more frequent trips to the Flatiron Flyer, which connects Denver and Boulder along U.S. 36; and between Boulder and Denver International Airport. RTD officials estimate the funding will lead to 3.8 million more transit rides in 2027.

In a statement, CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said the Flatiron Flyer is one of the Front Range’s most well-used commuter routes and was part of the state’s commitment to offer more transit options and improve air quality when U.S. 36 was expanded,

“More frequent service, better connections and expanded hours mean more people can count on transit to get to work, school, appointments, entertainment and other destinations,” Lew said. “These investments also advance Colorado’s broader goals of providing more transportation choices, reducing congestion and improving air quality.”

The grant does not replace the RTD Board of Directors’ decision to cut $20 million in services in 2027, spokesperson Marta Sipeki said in an email. Staffers are expected to bring recommendations for those service cuts in early 2027 to go into effect in May and June.

The money comes from a 2024 state law, Senate Bill 230, that requires the Clean Transit Enterprise to charge oil and gas producers a quarterly fee.

It’s yet to be determined how much of the funds will be used to keep expanded services going long term, Sipeki said. RTD can apply for the same grant funding in the future, and staffers will look at data like boardings along the grant-funded routes when writing those applications.

It’s not clear exactly when the expanded services will roll out. RTD staff have provided some recommendations to the Board of Directors, and directors will vote on the proposed route and service expansions in November, Sipeki said.

“The list is not exhaustive, and RTD staff is working on further recommendations,” she said.

East Colfax’s first complete section of the bus rapid transit project opened its bus-only lanes on Sunday, after two years of construction. That construction, which brought major changes to one of Denver’s oldest and largest commercial streets, has been marked by confusing traffic patterns and lines of cones and barrels along the busy road.

The new bus-only lanes run from Broadway to Colorado Boulevard, allowing bus routes 15 and 15L to use East Colfax’s center two lanes while other drivers travel in the outer lanes.

A Route 15L bus collided with a truck on eastbound East Colfax at North Williams Street at 7:35 p.m. Tuesday, Denver police spokesperson Doug Schepman said in an email to The Denver Post.

“Both drivers remained on scene, and the bus driver was cited for failing to obey a red traffic signal,” Schepman said.

The bus and the truck were both driving east on Colfax when the truck driver tried to turn left onto North Williams Street with a green arrow, Schepman said. When the bus failed to stop for a red light in the leftmost eastbound lane, which is now a bus-only through lane, the two vehicles collided, he said.

Two RTD customers reported injuries, but neither was taken to the hospital, RTD spokesperson Pauline Haberman said.

When complete, Denver’s full will stretch from . Construction is expected to end by late 2027, according to city officials.

The changes on East Colfax have confused drivers, with some route-setting apps — like Google Maps — directing drivers to turn in spots they’re no longer permitted to. City officials previously said they were working with those apps to update traffic patterns.

The next phase of construction will take over Colfax Avenue between Colorado Boulevard and Niagara Street.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

A-Line trains, which normally run every 15 minutes, will depart every 30 minutes on a single track to allow crews from Denver Transit Partners to do repairs at the York-Josephine railroad crossing, agency officials said.

The reduced schedule started Tuesday, and the regular A-Line schedule will resume Oct. 11.

Trains will leave Denver’s Union Station on the hour and half-hour, and trains will leave the Denver airport station at 27 minutes and 57 minutes past the hour.

Updated route information is available online on

The jury convicted Adrian Slaughter on a lesser charge of second-degree murder, a class 2 felony, Jefferson County court records show. He was originally charged with first-degree murder after deliberation.

Lakewood officers responded to the fatal shooting near Vance Street and West 13th Avenue shortly after 10:15 p.m. on . When they arrived, they found 49-year-old Joshua Green suffering from a gunshot wound to his abdomen and right arm.

Paramedics took Green to the hospital, where he later died.

The shooting happened on a pedestrian path east of the Regional Transportation District’s , north of the light rail tracks, according to Slaughter’s arrest affidavit.

Surveillance video showed Slaughter sitting near a fence on the path and talking to people before getting up, walking over to Green and shooting him from several feet away, police said in the affidavit.

Slaughter was arrested three weeks after the shooting and convicted more than a year after his arrest. He will next appear in court for a sentencing hearing on Oct. 30, according to court records.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

That����ap the challenge at the heart of the agency’s upcoming push to analyze how the transit system operates, a project called

While RTD’s Board of Directors was initially set to hear more in-depth information about those different paths at a work session on Tuesday afternoon, the board canceled the meeting as of Tuesday morning so staffers could put together more examples of how either decision would affect the transit network before presenting them to the board and at stakeholder workshops.

RTD staff were scheduled to travel across metro Denver over the next six weeks to hear from community members, advocacy groups, government leaders and other stakeholders about what they want RTD to look like in the future, but those are also pushed back. Agency officials said Tuesday there is no timeline for upcoming public engagement.

The Board of Directors got a first look at RTD Connect at a board meeting last week, including some of the potential challenges and benefits that will come with prioritizing serving either the most riders or the biggest area.

A transit system that focuses on ridership would mean faster and more frequent service along fewer routes, project manager Doug Monroe told board members last week, and could also mean less pollution, less traffic and more walkable communities.

A coverage-based plan would focus on serving every person and every jurisdiction to meet “lifeline” needs for people who rely on public transit, Monroe said. It would mean basic service in as many places as possible.

“These two contrasting networks are really a values judgment for our constituents, our customers, our directors and stakeholders,” he said.

The push to shape RTD’s future also comes as agency staff considers how to cut $20 million in routes and services starting in the spring to reduce RTD’s ongoing budget deficit.

RTD’s Board of Directors had some hesitation about staff plans to get out into the community, particularly in towns and cities that don’t have much RTD service to start with but still pay taxes for the transportation system.

Director Michael Guzman called on his fellow board members to work together to find a clear direction for RTD, despite, he joked, it feeling like the worst kind of group project.

“We all have our own responsibility to do our part… and we still have to come back together and make these decisions,” he said.

Updated 11:20 a.m., Sept. 29, 2026: A previous version of this story reported that the RTD Board of Directors was meeting for a study session Tuesday afternoon. That meeting has since been canceled.

RTD leaders on Monday said the proposed timeline, which includes the board voting on a finalist in December, is not an effort to push Johnson out before her contract ends in May. Community members and RTD candidates, meanwhile, criticized the move because newly elected directors would not have a formal say in hiring the new CEO outside of the vote finalizing the new leader’s contract in January.

discussed the timeline, as well as a potential job description and pay range for the agency’s next CEO and general manager, at a meeting Monday morning. The full RTD board will consider the timeline, job description and pay at a meeting Sept. 22.

Under the , RTD will post the job Sept. 28, accept applications until Nov. 20, name a finalist Dec. 4, vote on a new CEO on Dec. 18, and vote on the new CEO’s contract on Jan. 5, the same day any new directors elected in November will be sworn into office.

Johnson’s contract expires in May and she has said she will not seek a renewal.

It’s not clear how the proposed timeline will affect her employment and there have not been any discussions to that effect, Director Chris Gutschenritter told The Denver Post. It’s possible the new CEO will not start until May or there could be overlap between Johnson and her successor to share knowledge, he said.

The faster timeline is not about rushing Johnson out the door, Gutschenritter said, but about leaving plenty of time to find the transit agency’s next leader, rather than hiring someone “just in time.”

During the committee meeting, several community members and asked directors to move back the timeline, even by a few weeks, so that incoming board members will have more say in the process.

Lance Longenbohn, the president of RTD’s union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001, said the board needs to be careful and deliberate in the CEO search to give voters confidence.

“Hurrying the process in the last three months of the year is not the way to do that,” he said.

Boulder resident Gary Sprung told committee members that picking a CEO will be the new board’s most important task.

“You, the current board, are planning to take that option away from the new board, and I find that deplorable and outrageous,” he said. “It likely ignores or thwarts the will of the voters.”

Six of the 10 RTD candidates on the ballot in November sent a letter to the committee asking to change the timeline so incoming directors can have more say, and several also voiced the request during the committee meeting’s public comment period.

The faster timeline was a surprise to the candidates, who first learned about it Friday, shortly before the meeting materials were posted online, District O candidate Jack Rosenthal said. District O includes Boulder and Boulder County generally west of Lafayette.

“The ideal scenario is we all agree on a new GM/CEO… but if the incoming board and the outgoing board don’t agree, it’s the outgoing board that has the vote,” Rosenthal said.

Michael Farrington, RTD candidate for District K, which includes Commerce City, Brighton and Thornton, told the committee that he’s concerned that new directors only being able to vote on the last step could result in needing to start the search over.

“What I really don’t want to see is the incoming board feel like their hands are tied and not have much of a choice,” he said.

Most of the RTD directors on the committee, however, said they were in favor of the plan to select a new CEO by the end of the year.

Both Gutschenritter and Board Chair Patrick O’Keefe said they are committed to giving the incoming directors a voice in the search and hiring process as soon as they are elected.

“They would not have a vote on public record, but they would have a voice, and we have committed to not moving forward without their consensus,” Gutschenritter said in the meeting.

O’Keefe urged people to focus on the good, including how the RTD board has worked together in the past. There is always the option to slow down the search as needed, he said.

“There are 10 directors coming back, there are five being elected. I think we are respecting that in bringing them in on the process while respecting those that currently have an election certificate,” he said.  “I ask everyone to focus on the positivity of this group and not foment fear, division or what-ifs down the road.”

RTD’s board is looking at a base salary for the new CEO of anywhere from $411,000 to $509,000, according to the committee documents.

Several directors also raised concerns about the search committee for the new CEO being made up entirely of white people.

That does not reflect RTD’s ridership, Director Michael Guzman said.

“You’re not listening, or you’re not allowing or you’re not making space at the table for people of color,” he said, adding that it’s disrespectful to the communities RTD will need support from to pass a potential ballot measure.

“The optics of that look really bad, all over the district, and I think it would be a mistake,” he said.

The RTD board’s search for a new chief executive is one of several major changes and challenges facing the Front Range transit provider. Currently made up of 15 elected directors, the board itself will fundamentally change during the 2028 election when a new state law kicks in, slashing six board seats to make it a nine-member board with and four appointed by the governor.

Johnson, who was hired in 2020 as the first woman to lead the agency, has dealt with plummeting ridership, an unbalanced budget, service cuts and a decline in the public’s opinion of RTD during her tenure.

Agency leaders are planning to cut routes and services by $20 million to stem the tide of the deficit, well below the $62 million in cuts Johnson and other agency leaders recommended in the spring.

Johnson did not respond to an email seeking comment on the CEO search timeline. In a statement, agency spokesperson Marta Sipeki said Johnson’s employment agreement and the CEO search are entirely separate matters.

“The Board is focused on identifying the next leader for RTD and any overlap with the current CEO or interim bridge between the current CEO and next CEO will be addressed as those circumstances may or may not arise,” Sipeki said.

RTD is doing “essential maintenance” to improve reliability and safety from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday between the Peoria and Denver Airport stations and from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday between Union Station and the Central Park station.

“Customers are advised to plan accordingly and allow additional travel time to connect to and from the airport,” agency officials said.

The A Line will run as usual between Union and Peoria on Saturday and from Central Park to the Denver Airport station on Sunday.

More information about is available online.